Holding Wall Street Accountable

America is the strongest when everyone is treated fairly. We need a system that puts Main Street before Wall Street. That’s why Tammy is fighting to fix our rigged system and make sure those at the top play by the same rules as hard-working Americans.

Closing the Revolving Door

Americans’ trust in government is diminishing in large part because of the “revolving door” between government and the private sector.

Although it’s common for public officials to gain experience in private industries before taking positions in the government, too often decision-makers in the private sector become decision-makers in the government and are responsible for regulating the industries they used to be a part of, and plan to return to following their government service. A growing number of Wall Street banks are going so far as to offer their employees a bonus for leaving to accept a job in the government in the hope that they will receive preferential treatment. This makes it hard for Americans’ to discern whose interests their government is truly looking out for.

To address this problem, Tammy proposed a measure that would slow the revolving door by prohibiting private sector employees from accepting bonuses to join the government and reclassify more private sector employees as lobbyists so they are subject to the same legal requirements lobbyists have to abide by.

By slowing the “revolving door” it will increase the government’s ability to hold Wall Street more accountable, crack down on corporations breaking the law, encourage whistleblowers to act, and restore the public’s trust in their leaders.

Ensuring Everyone Pays Their Fair Share

Right now, ultra-wealthy individuals who work as hedge fund managers or in private equity benefit from a loophole in our tax code called the carried interest loophole. Because the majority of their compensation gets characterized as capital gains instead of as income, they pay at the capital gain tax rate — which is only around half of the income tax rate.

Tammy wants to end this special tax break given to ultra-wealthy hedge fund managers. At a time when income inequality is growing, we should not be making it easier for millionaires and billionaires to stockpile more wealth, while hardworking American families struggle to get by.

That’s why Tammy introduced a measure that would close the carried interest loophole and make sure Wall Street hedge fund managers and private equity CEOs pay their fair share too.

Protecting Main Street Businesses

If the 2008 financial crisis taught us anything, it’s that Wall Street cannot and will not regulate itself. Hedge fund managers and investors work with one goal in mind: maximizing profits. This is a problem when it comes at the expense of small businesses, workers and communities.

One of the most glaring examples of our need to impose tougher oversight on Wall Street is the current practice of corporate “short-termism.” This leads investors and executives to focus on generating short-term stock price gains at the expense of investments in long-term growth. The investors get their payday while the workers and the company are left worse off.

This happened in Brokaw, Wisconsin when a Wall Street hedge fund preyed upon the Wausau Paper Company. The company ran a paper mill and had employed residents with good jobs for over 100 years.

Once activist investors rolled in, they forced out executives and exploited the company for short-term returns. The mill closed down and it bankrupted the entire town.

Tammy is fighting to put an end to this practice by proposing a measure that would require greater transparency on the part of hedge funds and investors to strengthen their oversight.